Albatross-class
The Albatross-class Heavy Cruiser is one of the first real dedicated warship to be equipped with the ability to carry mobile suits but also able to be a true warship. While it would be designed to be the main warship of the Altairan Self Defense Forces it would be removed from service after the several weaknesses were found in the design and be replaced by the Forrestal-class. Technology & Combat Characteristics During the buildup of the Altairan Self Defense Forces in late CE67, they started to build their own defensive ships after using older Nike-class Light Cruisers for the last few years. Since they were already building mobile suits, this new ship was to be a carrier as well. After a few months of designing and planning with support of Sphinx Heavy Industries the first new Albatross-class ships cruised out of the newly built shipyard of Mars Security Corporation at Colony Scorpio. The new MarSec Shipyard at Colony Scorpio would heavily base the design on a pre-design sketch of ZAFT’s brand new Laurasia Class and combined it with knowhow from several borrowed engineers from Sphinx Heavy Engineering which combined the design with some elements from the trusty Nike-class Light Cruisers. This most evident in the singular Plasma Impulse Propulsion Drive that was introduced on the Nike -class plus the main hull somewhat modeled after the smaller Nike-class in some way. The Albatross-class Heavy Cruiser, named mostly after various Seaplane Carriers which where one of the first aircraft carriers, was the first of its kind, part battleship and part carrier able to carry six mobile suits yet has the firepower to counter any other ship out there. Its weapons load-out of a whopping eight heavy dual-beam cannons gave the ship vast superior firepower compared to ships from other navies. That is not mentioning the supporting sixteen torpedo launchers and twin six-cell missile launchers, which gives the ship a ship plenty of supporting firepower. This ship could easily take small fleets of ships by itself if needed, and that is not including its mobile suits. The hanger of the Albatross is able to carry six machines in relative comfort along with two disassembled machines for spares. Not including the spare machines, the hanger is also able to carry over ten tons worth of spare parts, ammo, and spare weapons in an attached cargo bay. This extra cargo bay allows the ship to carry its supporting mobile suit cargo, without using space in the ships main cargo bay. The ship is also able to launch all of its machines using its single linear catapult in the matter of only minutes. This catapult and hanger setup would be the sole carry-over from the design sketch of the Laurasia-class in that it along the bottom of the ship in a second hull attachment. The only change from the Laurasia Class would be that the hanger is not a self-contained pod able to be drop onto a planet. Another major change is the addition of a solid runway like attachment at the front of the hanger which has twin linear catapult arms built into the sides which extend when launching mobile suits. These external catapult arms would later be used as a basis for ZAFT’s later Nazca-class Destroyer. However the Albatross-class while heavily armed with several powerful beam cannons it still sported several notable weaknesses including its single engine made it slow compared to other ships and its secondary engines were not up to the task of supporting the main engine. Other weaknesses include the short legs the design sported thanks to very little extra cargo room, its reactor not able to fully power its entire heavy beam armament and no real long range punch outside of the heavy torpedo launcher which suffered from not having enough munitions storage for a protracted engagement. Therefore it came to no surprise that this was not what the ASDF really wanted with their ships and under two years after the first ship of the class launched they would start looking into replacing the Albatross-class with a superior ship. They would finally find it in the new Forrestal-class Mobile Battlecruiser which sported everything the ASDF wanted and more. Even then the ASDF would continue to use their old Albatross-class Ships alongside the newer Forrestal-class for over a year before the Albatross-class would finally be fully retired. Even then this wouldn’t be the end of the class for Altair would sell several of their older ships to those third parties that were in good relation with the Republic. This would include the ninety percent constructed Flight Two ships to the Lunar Colonial Alliance and its defense militia which have become the Cobb-class Battlecruisers after they were finished by Dawn Civilian Shipyards. A few more of the ships would be sold to the Olympus Self Defense Forces, while three more would be sold to the Paladin Mercenaries to replace their aging Nike -class Cruisers, and while others would get one or two of the ships. These non-Altair operated ships would be a bit more successful than in the service of Altair mostly due to the modifications done to the ships by their new owners that would fix a few of the more minor problems with the design not mention very rarely being used far from their homeports which fixed one of the two major problems with the design. Over time the Albatross-class both those remaining in Altair service for some reason or another and those in the service of others would become a notable ship design with much of the problems that dominated its earlier service fixed or new policies preventing others. The design would continue to serve for several more years and would become quite a good ship design which would see it used as a basis in other ship designs. Armaments The Albatross Class sports one of more powerful armaments in the Earth Sphere which makes it one of the most powerful mass produced warship produced anywhere. It is thanks to the following weapons that make this happen. ;*XM-08 “Thunderbird” 100cm Duel Barrel High-Energy Beam Cannons :A large anti-ship beam cannon that fire high-energy particle beams at enemy ships. The Albatross sports eight of these duel turrets spread across the hull of the ship with four on the forward hull, three placed around the rear hull facing aft, and the final one along the bottom of the secondary hull. Anyone of these cannons can one-shot any combat ship that doesn't sport any anti-beam coating or laminated armor. However, these cannons come with a drawback thanks to the power requirements of having so many beam cannons the reactor of the ship while on of the largest ever produced couldn't keep up with the constant drain if the cannons where fired at the same time for several salvos. ;*“Pixie” 35mm High-Speed CIWS/AMS Cannons :One of the two main defensive weapons of the ship and is developed to help in the defense of the ship against enemy missile or mobile suit attacks. Therefore the eight cannons are spread across the hull to provide decent coverage which when backed up by the Gremlin Angled Guns give the ship one of the most dedicated ship defense network of any other capital ship. ;*“Gremlin” 20mm Angled Flak Guns :The second of the ship's defensive weapons and one that brings an old idea to modern space combat. These guns unlike the supporting Pixie guns are flak guns that fire a single round that splits open to spread lethal shrapnel to prevent missiles from hitting the ship. The flak guns can also fire a slightly larger round that splits open to spread even more lethal sub-munitions that are lethal against attacking mobile suits. These guns are across the ship in banks of five or three guns with the majority concentrated on the main hull. All together these guns are really able to defend the ship from enemy attacks. ;*M16 Heavy Torpedo Launchers :The secondary main weapon of the ship is the sixteen heavy torpedo launchers that are concentrated in the forward half of the main hull of the ship. They are split into four banks of four tubes with two banks a third the way along the hull and the last two just before the end of the hull. However, thanks to small ammo magazines these weapons are not that effective as they should be. ;*“Lightning” 6-Cell Missile Launchers :The last of the Albatross-class weapons and is the only one rarely if ever used mainly thanks to the light cargo space on the ship and the layered defense of the ship. Even then these launchers are useful for anti-mobile suit combat launching "Bolt" Cluster Missiles that split into six smaller missiles where they then home onto an attacking mobile suit. These missile launchers are also used to launch anti-beam depth charges when needed in battle though again rarely used thanks in part to Albatross-class heavy beam armament would be affected by these charges. Even then these launchers are a vital part of the ship's armament and when used wisely can be quite useful in battle. Notable Ships and Crew ;*ASDS Wright (Captain Claudia Grant) :One of the ships assigned to the ASDF Third Fleet when it was first formed in late CE70 where it would serve during numerous early engagements against pirate forces hiding in the Lagrange Four and Lagrange Three areas. In November of CE70 Wright would be detached from Third Fleet to join anti-piracy patrols alongside the ZAFT Ship Rutherford in the Lagrange Two area. Of which thanks to the heavy firepower of the Wright manages to take out several heavy pirate ships that where hiding in the Resource Asteroid Cluster. Subclasses ;*Flight II/''Cobb''-class :Formerly the unfinished six ships of the Flight Two of the main design that whose construction was halted after the decision by the ASDF to retire the class for the superior Forrestal-class. However the unfinished hulks of these ships would be bought up by the Lunar Colonial Alliance who after being finished by Dawn Civilian Shipyards of Copernicus City would become the new Cobb-class Battlecruiser. The changes to the design would be a larger secondary hull allowing a larger hanger and cargo bays, the addition of a new reactor based heavily on the Izumo-class reactor which allows it to fire its weapons a lot easier, and a larger ammo magazine for its torpedoes launchers. Notes & Trivia *Basically, this ship is heavily based on the Sing Lung-class Cruiser from the Gundam AGE First Generation, and tied it into the development of other ships in my Angelic Saga stories which makes some sense. Category:Cruiser Category:Angelic Dawn Ships